Within the Cards (16 page)

“Dear friend, her memories are but deep in her mind. If they are to be brought to the surface, the spell of enchantment must be returned to its original form.” She stated as she motioned to me to take a seat. I pulled the chair in front of her out. I sat and faced her. She never looked up at me.

“What do you mean a spell?” I asked as I rested my arms on the table. The candle shook making the flame flicker.

“The one she has held since she was a small being. The one that was casted on her before she reached maturity.” She replied to my question still not looking at me.

“But how do I make her know this,” I pleaded as I ran my fingers through my hair.

“You can’t do it alone. She must be in need of it and want it. If she doesn’t she will kill you before you can help her through the process,” she stated. She moved the candle that flickered to the center of the table. I watched her wrinkled hands expecting them to shake, but she was steady.

I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Ellie made it clear to me that she didn’t know who I was. I couldn’t tempt fate with her. She would kill me within seconds. She, being my maker, would extinguish my existence without realizing she could.

“What must I do to get her to listen to me?” I inquired in a low voice hoping to hear the answer that I needed. I again shuffled at the table. The candle light flickered with my movement.

“She knows the truth. Her sister told her, and now she looks for you. There is a spell in the majestic book,” she stated. She instructed me to follow the spell exactly. “The time must be right. You can't vary from the spell. Once the spell is spoken by the witch that created her, you must kiss her, and when her eyes look upon you, she will know you.” She relayed this without looking at me. She pulled her chair closer to the table and only then did she look up.

Her eyes turned black as coal as she looked over the table where she rested her aged hands. I realized she was frail, and the time of her non-eternal life was growing near to an end. She had been waiting on me. She needed to warn me of the possibility of my ending. She looked once more at the candle and touched one of the cards in front of her. Then she looked into my eyes.

“You must do as I have said. I will not be here to tell you more. They look for me. Before we last met, I tried to tell them of your existence because I blamed her for my kinds extinguishing. I beg your forgiveness. The hybrids want to trade me for one of theirs. It's time to relinquish my place on earth. If they find me your existence will end, and the spell will never be restored. You must adhere to my words.” Her voice was soft and barely audible.

“A great war will come that only you will be able to end. You have greater powers than you realize, but only if you combined them with your maker. Together you protect each other, but apart you endanger the other and the future of your offspring’s rein of power, the prophecy. He will be the one that will bring all immortals together as one being. You must go my friend. You must go find her. She holds the words that must be spoken.” Anesidora’s words echoed.

The candle flickered one last time and went out. The old witch named Anesidora vanished. I sat alone in the room. The room was dark no light existed. I found my way back to the door. I was use to the dark. My life was the dark. I returned to the front room of the store. The blonde man continued to watch the television. Again, he didn’t acknowledge my presence. What did the old witch mean by a great war? Ellie’s and my offspring would be the prophecy. My mind had more questions than I had before I entered the store. I looked back at the counter and heard the thoughts of the man. His face showed the story of his ties with this old witch. He was sad. She was dead, no longer living in this world.

“I am sorry for your loss.” I spoke to him realizing the television was not playing.

“Don’t be sorry. You are the reason she held on to life,” he replied. “Her task is now complete. She can be with the higher beings that have passed many years before her. She’s at peace, but you must listen to her words.” He turned and walked into the room where Anesidora vanished.

My thoughts returned to Ellie. I must find her and convince her of her past. I must make her remember me, but how do I get her to speak words I didn’t know, and how do I get close enough to kiss her so when she opened her eyes and looked at me she would remember me and remember our love? What was she saying about a spell that had to be spoken by the witch that created her? Ellie’s grandmother was no longer alive. Would Ellie ever remember me? The witch spoke as though it was possible. How?

I looked around the store, but didn’t see the blond male anywhere. He wasn’t in the room behind the crimson curtain. As I walked out of the store and closed the door, I heard the door lock behind me. I turned to look, but no one stood on the other side of it.

I started my return to Delmont. My mind reeled from the conversation I had with Anesidora. She knew I was coming to see her. She knew my questions before I could ask them. That was when I remembered her last comments. “The future of your offspring’s rein of power, the prophecy” what was she talking about? Ellie and I were going to have a child that would bring all immortals together. How was this going to happen? Ellie didn’t remember me. She hated my species.

"An Offspring?"

Chapter Thirteen

ENLIGHTENMENT

I arrived at my dorm room by mid morning. My class had been over for an hour. Through my entire journey home, I thought about what I had heard from the old witch. I knew what had to be done, but I had no idea how to accomplish it. As I unlocked my dorm door, I caught a fragrance that I immediately recognized.

“Hello honey, you’re finally home.” She had a sarcastic tone in her voice as she lay on my bed. I had dreamed so many times to walk in and see her lying on my bed.

“What are you doing here?” I suppressed my excitement. However, I felt delighted to see her.

“I have been waiting in this dreadful white place that you call home for you to return.” She snared at me and sat up in the middle of the bed. “Where the hell have you been? I have been here all night.”

“I had someone I had to see.” I replied. I tried to hide my thoughts before Ellie noticed them. Ellie knew about the witch before I could remove her from my head.

“Did you turn her over to your vamp clan, so they could get their prized son back?” She was full of hate and had an evil grin on her face.

“What are you talking about?” I looked at her not knowing what she was talking about.

“Your vamp clan looks for her, but I’m sure you know that already.” She again threw her hate dagger in my direction.

There was something different about her; I couldn't put my finger on it. She was trying to act as if she was still mad at me, but she actually wasn’t. What was going on? Had Ellie remembered me? Was she trying to test me? I went along with her.

“Read my thoughts Ellie, I have no idea what you’re talking about I’m not like the other vampires. I would never turn her over to them. She was my friend.” I felt tired of the interrogation that made no sense to me.

“You wouldn't do that, would you?” She was in disbelief.

“No I wouldn’t.” I lashed again.

Ellie looked deep into my eyes. She couldn’t recognize my thoughts this time. Her face filled with curiosity about my response to her accusations.

“What have I done now?” I asked, but when I saw the look, she returned to me I was sure I didn’t really want to know. Her eyes became narrow as the ice glared at me. This was it; the look in her eyes told me that she was going to kill me. I knew the look she was giving me. I was seeing the end of my life. She was going to end my existence. The witch’s predictions of our child, the prophecy, wouldn’t happen. It was over. The immortal world would go to war and never unite as one. Then with a change in expression, her look became total shock.

“Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me. That will never happen. Me; have a child with a vermin like you? I don’t think so.” She started to laugh wildly.

I walked across the room and sat in the chair in front of the desk. I didn’t attempt to sit on the bed where Ellie had been laying. She now sat in the middle of my bed crossed legged as she laughed.

I knew I could be pushing my luck. Ellie’s family wouldn’t stand for other immortals to refer to them as hybrid witches or hybrid vampires. They were witchyres, and they felt they were of higher standards than both of these races.

“Don’t push me vamp boy.” She snarled. “We ended the witch that I came from a long time ago. She was weak, and I damned her to hell along with that pathetic excuse for a grandfather vamp of mine.” She hissed as she moved to the side of the bed. I turned to look at her.

“You think your grandmother was weak because she loved your grandfather? You have no idea Ellie. Love is the strongest part of a human and an immortal. Without love, you’re just full of hate; useless hate like you have now. Not like the Ellie, you use to be” I turned away from her again and pulled my shirt off.

“Love makes you weak. It is nothing more than a human word that has no meaning for my people. If you vamps wouldn't try so hard to blend in with your food you would see that this love you’re talking about is for fools to believe.” She hissed. Ellie’s words were strong, but there was something different about her.

“You sound like your sisters, Ellie. Hmmm. So how was your visit to see your sisters?” Remembering she was going to see them at our last conversation.

“I saw Dee. She has one of your kind in the dungeon. He is so full of lust, damn moronic vamp.” She scolded as she rolled her eyes and wondered what I was doing.

“Ellie, can’t you see I’m not like the others. Have I lusted for you once?” I asked as I turned around holding a new shirt.

She looked at me strangely. Her thoughts were trying to rewind the last week. My feelings for Ellie were nothing but love. I wanted to make love to her, but never was it just lust for sexual pleasure. Of course, the way Ellie looked at my shirtless body; she had lust in her mind. She saw what I was thinking as I put on the new shirt. Ellie realized I knew what she was thinking and turned her thoughts to something different.

Ellie's look changed. I knew she was reviewing the conversation she had with her sister Dee. She knew I was telling the truth. I remembered what Anesidora said. She knew. Dee told her that they erased her memory. I couldn’t believe the next thoughts she had. She felt drawn to me, and she didn’t hate me. The change I noticed in her was real. She was trying hard not to let me know. I began to laugh.

“Ellie, I love you. Please just think about it. I have never acted like other vampires. I am a part of you. That’s why you are so drawn to me.” I pleaded my case to her.

“You love me, but you laugh at me.” She stated as she turned away from me.

She ran her fingers through her hair. As her hand moved through the black tresses, her expression showed her confusion. She got up from the bed and walked toward the window. As she passed me, her hand lightly grazed mine. I could feel the electrical vibrations of her touch. She turned and looked at her hand. She had felt it too. She reached and touched my arm then pulled her hand away from me quickly and stepped back. Again, she felt stunned at the conduction of electricity between our bodies.

Witchyres never showed fear but in Ellie’s eyes, I saw what she felt. Her thoughts were searching for a reason why. She turned and looked in the distance through the window. I walked toward her. She held her hand up to motion me to stop, but I couldn’t. With her back to me, I pushed my body against hers. I could feel her shoulder blades pushing against my chest. I anticipated her violent response to thrust me backward, but it didn’t come. I placed both of my hands on her shoulders and felt the tension. She wasn’t familiar with the touch of love. I wanted to push her hair away from her neck and replace it with my lips. I felt sparks from the electrical intentions between us.

She relaxed the tension in her body as I pulled her tightly against me. Wrapping my arms around her chest, I held her. I didn’t force myself on her any further. She was scared of the feeling she had, and I didn’t want to reverse the progress we had made.

“Ellie, I love you. I would never hurt you. Would you please trust me, please listen to me and try to remember.” I softly begged as I whispered in her ear. She turned toward me. Our faces were no more that inches apart. I could smell the sweet breath she exhaled. I wanted to kiss her with every cell in my cold, physical form. Closing my eyes, I swallowed hard when her thoughts interrupted my need to be closer to her.

“I need to know the truth. Dee told me about erasing my memory. Help me remember.” Her tone had changed. Her angelic voice was nothing more than a whisper.

“The old witch told me about a spell that had to be cast. It will repair your memory. But Ellie, it has to be done by your grandmother.” I responded.

“I know, but I don’t understand how. I know of no spell that will bring her back from extinguishment. I don’t,” her voice paused, “wait, the book that Dee gave me.”

“What book?” I asked as I back away from her sudden turn.

“That’s it. That’s why she gave me the book. The old witch knew I had the book.” She moved toward the bed again. She picked up a large leather bound book that looked very old. The pages look worn from time and many usages. In gold on the front cover were the words I remembered Anesidora talking about when she told me that Ellie would know how. I took the book from Ellie and laid it on the bed where Ellie and I both sat now. She looked at me, and I could still see the fear of uncertainty in her eyes.